Nuovi dati sulla diffusione dei dolii protostorici d'impasto nell'hinterland della Sibaritide

In the surveys carried out by the University of Groningen since 2000 in the hinterland of the Sibaritide, a protohistoric settlement in use between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age was discovered at Timpone delle Fave, in the territory of Frascineto. This site is characterized by the presence of fragments of corded pithoi, mainly dating to the Final Bronze Age. Pottery productions based on Aegean technology are in fact found in several sites in the foothills along the Sybaris plain and can be considered indicators of the profound changes in settlement organization during the Late Bronze Age. In order to evaluate the possible effects that relationships between local and Aegean cultures had on the socio-cultural structure of Late Bronze Age settlement organization, a reconstruction of these contacts is proposed on a landscape scale. The available data so far confirm that during the Late Bronze Age settlement disappeared from the upland and mountainous areas of the Sibaritide. This observation leads us to believe that the incorporation of new production modes contributed to a preference for settlement locations closer to the plain, along natural communication routes, where production was easier to manage and control. However, it seems that existing social structures by and large persisted as full-fledged urbanization processes did not take place in the area, contrary to what is observed in other Italian regions during the period between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age.